Subjectify raises a point concerning nude self portraits of women, which I have been thinking about for a while: “i have been thinking about the trouble with beauty in art photography for some time. i can see an alternate world in which i would earnestly feel that female photographers’ naked self-portraits were brave, theoretically rigorous, challenging, honest, etc…etc… except i rarely do feel that way, because lately i notice that mainly thin, beautiful women engage in these projects in the first place. or at least, their projects are the ones that gain recognition (which is why i see them?). of course, such projects might have something thought-provoking and honest to offer, but overall, it still troubles me.” The occasional exception notwithstanding, I have the exact same problems with this kind of work.
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Réjouissante Madone calls French blog Zoum Zoum Katharina Bosse’s work on motherhood (NSFW, btw). Not everybody agrees, though. After seeing the work presented in German photo magazine Photonews, Rolf Nobel, professor of photojournalism, writes a letter to the editor (which is so 20th Century!), declaring the work to be irrelevant and a calculated provocation (my translation of the German words; his position is mentioned in this post). Unfortunately, none of the Photonews kerfuffle is online (it’s Germany, after all), but Nobel’s letter caused a whole string of follow-up ripostes and defenses (letters to the editor again). Regardless of whether you agree with Herr Prof. Nobel or not, it’s a bold move, isn’t it? When is the last time you saw someone willing to call an artist’s work “irrelevant and a calculated provocation” in public (and no, anonymous cranks in comments or online discussions don’t count)?
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The new website Women in Photography launched today with its first post. Amy and Cara told me they’re still looking for more photographers to add, so there really is no excuse not send send them an email! Update (4 June): There’s a very nice interview with the co-creators of WiP here.
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